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Tiktok Moves into E-Commerce, Music Streaming Across the Global South

by Cobus van Staden
Tiktok CEO Shou Zi Chew speaking during the Tiktok Southeast Asia Impact Forum in Jakarta in June. Image: Bay Ismoyo / AFP

Bytedance, the parent company of the Chinese social media giant TikTok, is racing to expand its business into e-commerce and other fields, in a bid to mimic the success of other Chinese e-commerce giants like Shein.

The platform’s TikTok Shop, which allows users to sell directly to followers via built-in e-commerce architecture, has proven massively popular in Southeast Asia and beyond. TikTok Shop is emerging as an e-commerce giant, with a projected $20 billion in gross merchandise value by the end of the year, quadrupling that of 2022.

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